Plack, Smith and Unicorn West Coast Tour Diary Part One

The prickly drizzle unregrettingly penetrated my too-thin vestiments, sticking cotton to flesh. No time for retreating to the warm comforts of the indoors, however, bound to the tour schedule as we were. Autumn Electric on tour with Plack, Smith and Unicorn! It promised to be an exciting and educational voyage; possibly lucrative, but probably not. The trip to Portland was cramped and damp, with sharp metal objects placed precariously behind us, shaking, as if anxiously awaiting the chance to kill. I hoped that probability and the laws of motion would have the decency to deny them that chance until we had time to pack properly.

We first performed at the Lents Commons coffee house. There, in front of an intimate audience, and with our first nachos of the tour rolling around happily in our bellies, we made our music. For PSU, it was our first out of town performance. I was not certain the audience knew what to think of our opening number, what with the free-jazz noise section…but they apparently got it, and it seemed that the owner was happy he booked us. I’m happy he did, too.

Our next stop was the Triangle in out-of-the-way Salem, Oregon. We had no idea what to expect. All we knew was that we were the closing acts of an open mic, which at the time seemed a grim prospect, but one that nevertheless we were hired for. So, in the spirit of professionalism, we showed up at the bar, ready for anything. The open mic turned out to be mainly a blues jam, and everyone was great at what they were doing. We still feared what they would think about our act, but when we finished, we got nothing but compliments. They truly liked it, and I learned this: Trust your audience!